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New state? Weld County floats secession plan for northeastern Colorado

Weld County Commissioners are floating a plan that would see the northeastern part of Colorado form its own state called "North Colorado." In the photo, an oil well in Greeley. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)

Weld County's bid to divorce Colorado and form its own state is a powerful rebuke of Front Range interests that no longer align with rural parts of the state, supporters of the idea say.

"The people of rural Colorado are mad, and they have every right to be," said U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Yuma. "The governor and his Democrat colleagues in the statehouse have assaulted our way of life, and I don't blame these people one bit for feeling attacked and unrepresented by the leaders of our state."

The plan to carve off the northeastern corner of the state — Weld, Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties — and form the state of North Colorado was hatched at a Colorado Counties Inc. conference earlier this week, Weld County spokeswoman Jennifer Finch said.

The commissioners, united by interests in oil and gas regulation, gun control, transportation and agriculture, agreed to discuss its feasibility and perhaps put the question to voters in their counties in November, Finch said.

But some see it as ploy to raise the long-term political capital of those involved in the proposed move. Or worse, it's a bad joke.

"It's just going to be seen as a crackpot idea by a bunch of crackpot commissioners some of whom are term limited," said Steve Mazurana, a longtime Greeley resident and former political science professor at the University of Northern Colorado. "Some will just call it Crackpottopia."

The "straws that broke the camel's back" included the signing of SB 252 on Wednesday, which increases renewable energy standards in rural areas in a way that rural energy companies say is too costly.

Commissioner Sean Conway told the Tribune oil and gas and agriculture in particular are being targeted, even though the revenue the county sees from the those industries makes up 70 percent of the state's budget. He said those dollars don't return to northeastern Colorado, for road improvements for example.

A ballot question for Weld voters could be ready by Aug. 1, Conway told the Tribune.

"There are a lot of people mad out there," Greeley Mayor and former State Sen. Tom Norton said. "You walk out onto the streets of Greeley and every third person says 'What in the world are they (state lawmakers) thinking?' "

Gov. John Hickenlooper's spokesman Eric Brown said "background checks on gun sales, increasing renewable energy and supporting responsible development of oil and gas are popular with rural and urban voters. Not everyone agrees, of course, but we keep trying."

Norton concedes a secession will be difficult to pull off. But at the least, they will get the attention of Denver and the Front Range. "It certainly gets the message out that people are angry."

State Rep. Dave Young, D-Greeley, said he's wary of the proposal. "We'll have to study if further to see what they are trying to accomplish."

Mazurana said the process of breaking way from the state and starting a new one, is long and difficult. Both the state legislature and the U.S. Congress would have to approve.

"All the rest of the states are are not going to want to share their federal aid with this new state," Mazurana said. "And the state is not going to give up oil and gas money on a whim."

However, the notion could draw the backing of well-heeled conservative backers, he said. "The Koch brothers could come in along with some other wingnut groups."